The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

Today's Scripture Reading (November 30, 2023): John 1

In my mind, as I read John's words about the Word becoming flesh, I see the scene that is told by Matthew and Luke of this young couple who came to Bethlehem and Luke's insistence that there was no room in the local Holiday Inn, and the Ramada was completely booked up as well. (I know, permit me my poetic license.) But then the owner of the Holiday Inn says, "Listen, I have this stable out back. You could stay there." As preachers, we pound our fists and yell that Jesus was born in a barn and not a sterilized version of a stable like some of the manger scenes that we have on display. This barn stunk of the animals that made that place their home. And you had to watch where you set your feet because you might step into something, and we wouldn't want that. We stress the "poop" of the situation. Can you imagine the condition that the God of this world entered that night in Bethlehem? When did you last sleep in a barn because there was no room at the inn?

I know us. We see a hair on the floor in the hotel bathroom and freak out. And if there is mold, well, we would never go back to that hotel ever again. But sometimes I wonder if we might make a colossal mistake and miss the real message behind the birth of Jesus, all because we don't understand the manger birth. I mean, having a baby in a stable is something that we would never consider, so Jesus enters the world in a way that we never would. Were you born in a manger? When was the last time you slept in a barn? Just give the date, although I'm sure there's a great story behind that night. For most of us, the answer is that we never have spent a night in a barn. And when we are traveling, a local stable is never considered a legitimate substitute for a hotel bed if there is no room at the local Holiday Inn.

A few years ago, I reread Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers." I had read the book years earlier but decided to read all six of Dumas's Musketeer chronicles. And in one of the books, either the second or third, there is this story about the King on the move. When a king moves, a whole entourage goes with him. When a king and his company would enter a town, the need for sleeping quarters always surpassed the number of beds available. As a result, there was a pecking order; the most important people would get the beds while the rest would have to make other arrangements. As Dumas tells the story, he speaks of the enterprising D'Artagnan and Porthos arriving at the town early and buying up all of the available hay. The purpose was that when the entourage arrived, they could sell the hay to people at a premium price and make some money. With no room at the inn, the hay could be purchased to provide a soft place to lie down, maybe in a dry stable or under the shelter of a tree. In the book, Dumas matter-of-factly presents the idea. It is a logical solution to an all-too-common problem.

Dumas's story takes place in the late 1600s or early 1700s. In other words, Dumas's heroes sold their hay to allow people to sleep in a stable 1700 years after the manger birth presented in Luke. Is it possible that what was a standard or logical solution for a lack of sleeping arrangments in eighteenth-century France was also an expected solution to a similar problem in 5 B.C.E. Israel? In a world that didn't have a Motel Six in every community, maybe sleeping in the hay was a typical experience.

If that is true, then maybe the real message of the baby born in a manger is one of normality.  Jesus did not come into this world as a priest or a king; he was born into our mess. He came to a place with which we could identify. The problem with how we often see the Christmas story is that Jesus enters the world in a way that we struggle to understand because we have never been forced to make a choice like the one Mary and Joseph were forced to make on that night. It is like telling a missionary story; the immediate reaction is often, "That's a nice story, but things like that never happen in my world." God's intention in telling the story of Jesus's birth is that when Jesus came to us, his birth was filled with normality.

In our world, it wouldn't be a manger; instead, it would be a local hospital, and Jesus would be just another kid born in a regular maternity ward, just like most of us were. There were no special favors or silver spoons; Jesus came and was born like you and me. As a result, Jesus is someone with whom we can identify.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 3

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. – Luke 2:14

Today's Scripture Reading (November 29, 2023): Luke 2

It is once again time to dust off the Christmas Carols and begin to sing the familiar words one more time. And sometimes, the familiarity of the Carols works against us. We forget that these songs were products of their time and often speak to a reality that goes beyond the "Christmas Story" to the politics and experiences surrounding the author at the time the words were written. And the familiar carol "Silent Night" is one of those carols.

The lyrics to Silent Night were written in 1816 by a young Austrian Priest named Josef Mohr. In 1816, the Napoleonic Wars had just ended. It was a tumultuous period for all of Europe. The Napoleonic Wars included seven individual conflicts. In the end, the result of the Napoleonic Wars was the defeat of France and the elevation of Britain (Austria had fought as an ally of Britain); France had won five of the seven conflicts. The immediate result for Austria was that her borders were changed (Austria had become smaller through the Napoleonic Wars), and she lost some control over her future. Austria had rechristened herself as the Austrian Empire at the beginning of the conflict with Napoleon and France, but by 1816, there was very little Empire left. As a way of preserving herself, in 1815 Austria became a member of the German Confederation consisting of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Confederation of the Rhine, and the Austrian Empire.

With this historical background, Josef Mohr penned his poem in 1816. In English, we only have three verses to "Silent Night," but Josef Mohr wrote six. The three English verses we have are the first, sixth, and second verses of Mohr's poem. But it is the fourth verse that speaks to the political situation in Austria at the time that Josef Mohr was writing the carol. Here are the words of that fourth verse;

            Silent Night! Holy Night!

            Where on this day all power

            Of fatherly love poured forth

            And like a brother lovingly embraced

            Jesus the peoples of the world

            Jesus the peoples of the world

In the words of this verse, we can hear Josef's political beliefs that the end of the war and the birth of the new German Confederation were all part of the grand plan, as Jesus reached out and embraced all of the peoples of the world. If Christmas was really a time of peace, this Christmas might have been the first real peace that Europe had experienced in over a decade.

The story could have ended here, but it didn't. Mohr would leave the town where the words to "Silent Night" had been the following year. His journey took him to another city and another church. So, in 1818, we have the story that has become the real legend of "Silent Night." The story is told that with Christmas approaching, the church organ decided to stop working. Some have said that the mice in the church caused the organ's demise; others have suggested that the organ had not been well maintained. But the end result was that with Christmas now only hours away, there would be no organ in the church on Christmas Eve. A song was needed that didn't require an organ. Mohr took the poem he had written two years earlier to Franz Xaver Gruber, an organist in a neighboring town, and asked him to compose music that could be played on a guitar. And "Silent Night" was born.

A traveling drama company had been going through Austria at the time, and a meeting had been planned for the church on December 23. The meeting had to be moved into a private home because of the organ situation, and it was there that the story of the birth of Jesus was told one more time. It was a story that had been told in the church for centuries. And it was at that meeting that "Silent Night" was played for the first time. That dramatic group took the song with it wherever they traveled that Christmas Season and the ones that followed, popularizing this song of peace written in the aftermath of another devastating war in Europe.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 1

Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. – Matthew 2:2

Today's Scripture Reading (November 28, 2023): Matthew 2

What do we do with the Star of Bethlehem? I need to give some disclaimers here. I believe in the Bible, all of it. The great theologian Alice Cooper said, "If it is in the Bible, I believe it." I get that; the belief describes me. And yet, in the same way, we have a history of treating the poetic writing in the Bible as if it were literal, and we misunderstand what the Bible says. It isn't ever that the Bible is wrong; it is that we don't know how to read it.

And to be honest, that is how I feel when I approach the Star of Bethlehem. I have periodically read articles exploring the possibilities for the star and understand the popular opinion of the star as recorded in our songs as something that hung literally in the sky in such a way that it could be followed. But something doesn't quite make sense.

Let's start with the star itself. The closest star that we know of is our sun. Have you ever tried to find the location on the earth over which the sun is shining? And if you happen to find the spot, how close can you pinpoint that location? Can we identify that place to something as small as an inconsequential stable in a little town? The answer is that we can't. If there were a star that we could follow to a stable, it would have to be within our atmosphere, maybe hovering just a few meters off the ground. A star, or even a wandering comet, is just too far away to help us pinpoint something as small as the stable where Jesus was born.

Add to this the language with which the Bible introduces this star. The New International Version calls it a rising star. The King James calls it the Star of the East. We also believe the wise men or the Magi were from the East. But, if you are in the East and you see a star shining in the East, and you follow that star, it should carry you further east, not west toward Israel. I know it is traditional to understand that the Magi followed the star, but is it possible that they weren't following a literal star in a particular direction but following a message they had inferred from the stars? These instructions first took them to Jerusalem before taking them to Bethlehem.

I think the solution to the problem is found in the ones who followed the star: the wise men (maybe). The problem with the wise men, or even the more traditional kings, is that it is the politically correct translation. A more literal translation of this class of people is that they were seers or astrologers. The problem with this translation is that astrologers aren't well respected by the Bible. I love Isaiah's tongue-in-cheek evaluation; "All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you." (Isaiah 47:13)

The wise men weren't astronomers seeking out the secrets of the origins of the distant lights; they were astrologers seeking the secret messages that the motion of the stars holds for us. Today, these wise men would have been writers of horoscopes. They believed the stars held secret information for us and our futures. When they followed the star, they were actually following a message that they had manufactured from the movement of the stars in the sky, a statement that said that a King had been born in Israel.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 2

Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. – Matthew 1:19

Today's Scripture Reading (November 27, 2023): Matthew 1

Part of our contemporary issue with reading the Christmas story is that we don't understand the marriage traditions of biblical times because they are so different from our own. We have moved away from those traditions, but that is our choice. And it doesn't mean that we are right and they are wrong. It just means that the practices are different. So, as we read the story of Mary and Joseph, there will likely be something inside of us that will demand that these practices are wrong." But the reality is that we do marriage differently in our Western culture. However, there are still cultures today that resemble the traditions of Mary and Joseph more closely than remind us of our own practices. And that is okay. Neither is necessarily right or wrong, just different.

It is likely that the parents of Mary got together and made an agreement with the parents of Joseph that their children would become engaged. But it is not engaged like we know it; instead, it is a plan to be married. When Mary got engaged to Joseph, she was likely somewhere around the age of six. Joseph would have likely been an old man of about twelve. And from then on, it is agreed that these two will one day marry and share their lives together. There is no such thing as dating or playing the field; the wedding is set, although not the precise date of the marriage.

There would be a betrothal ceremony later, maybe when Mary was eleven or twelve. The idea was that, at this point, Mary entered into a formal commitment to marry Joseph. The "Pledging of the Troth" is a statement of faith saying, "I will be faithful to my partner in the marriage relationship." In modern marriages, the pledging of the troth is presented during the wedding ceremony, although we do not always use that language. I have rarely had the language of the "Pledging of the Troth" requested by a couple with whom I have performed the marriage ceremony. In a wedding ceremony, the language is something like -

I, ____________________, take thee, _____________________, to be my wedded wife (husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.

In the case of Mary and Joesph, they are not yet married and not yet sexually active, but they are pledging that they will hold themselves sexually for each other. The time of sexual union will wait until the marriage day. It is now that Mary begins to call Joseph her husband, and Joseph calls Mary his wife. And, unlike a modern engagement, to break this pledge requires a divorce.

This is where Mary finds herself. She is betrothed, meaning she has pledged her troth. She has given her pledge to Joseph; he is her husband, and yet Mary and Joseph are not sexually active. And then Mary gets pregnant.

If you were Joseph, what would you think? It is obvious that a promise has been broken. We feel that a birth in a stable must have been a messy beginning for the promised Messiah. But, from the very beginning, everything is suddenly a mess. Joseph knows, beyond a doubt, that the baby is not his. I can imagine the tears that were spilled by Joseph as the reality of his situation pressed down on his soul. This was not what he had planned.

According to Jewish law, he could not go ahead with the wedding. All that could be done was to get a divorce because of marital unfaithfulness. Joseph could have gotten angry, he could have brought Mary in front of the Jewish law courts, he could have demanded that something be done, that Mary be punished. But instead, he decides that he doesn't want to subject her to public disgrace; he loves her too much for that. He will quietly get a divorce. It would probably mean that Mary would be sent somewhere else where she would have the baby and then return to Nazareth and the house of her parents to continue to live her life without Joseph.

As we read the story, we must ensure we don't miss the symbol of Joseph's love for his wife. Don't miss the forgiveness in Joseph's heart. We often remark about what a fantastic woman Mary was for being willing to go through this but don't miss for a moment what a fantastic man Joseph was for reacting as he did.

And no matter how you cut it, the lives of both of these people were wrecked by simply being willing to follow the will of God.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 2

But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. – Luke 1:7

Today's Scripture Reading (November 26, 2023): Luke 1

When we read in the Bible about someone being barren, the palpable problem for the people of that day was an issue of remembrance and being remembered in two ways. God had not remembered them because they had not been given children. But not only that, without children, there would be no one to recall them in the future. No one would be left to tell the stories and to love them after they were gone. In the ancient world, without children, it was as if you came and left without making a mark on the world with your existence.

To a certain extent, it is still that way. It was a huge issue for my grandfather that someone would be left to carry on the Mullen name. Now, it wasn't that there would be no more Mullens in the world if his line failed to produce men, but it wouldn't be his section of the Mullen lineage. He had done his part. Grandpa had two children, and both were boys, my Dad and Uncle Wally. But then the problem arose. My Uncle had two children, but both were girls. My Dad had two children, one boy (me) and one girl. So, as my wife and I started a family, we had a cheering section: my grandpa, hoping we had a boy so that the name would be carried forward and remembered for at least one more generation. It wasn't that he didn't love his girls because he most definitely did. But he wanted the line to carry on with his name. When our son, Craig, was born, we specifically gave him a name that honored my grandfather. And so, we gave him the middle name Hallett. Hallett is my grandfather's middle name, DeVerne Hallett Mullen, and it is also my great-grandfather's name; he was Rev. Hallett Smith Mullen. All of this is just one way of saying that we remember.

I have traced the family line back through some intriguing people. And for some of them, I even know their stories. These people include a man family historians have called Poughkeepsie Pete, A Dutch Ship Captain who retired and moved to the new world in the 1600s, and even a Captain of the King's Guard at the Palace of Westminster during the reign of King Edward III of England. And I try to remember to tell their stories whenever I can.

It is something that we all want: to be remembered. But because Elizabeth was barren, it was something that she and Zechariah would never experience. Their lives would not be extended through the generations. No one would fondly look back at their lives and say, "I am related to them." No one would speak their names or try to imagine and remember their lives, all because God had forgotten them, and so would the rest of the world. Zechariah and Elizabeth were destined to make no difference in their world because they had no children. From now on, all they might be is names on a dusty list indicating those who had served in the Temple. Because God had forgotten them, no one else would be given an opportunity to remember them and the things that they had done.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 1

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. – Malachi 4:4

Today's Scripture Reading (November 25, 2023): Malachi 3 & 4

Just a personal note: a couple of weeks ago, one of my uncles passed away. This year, 2023, has been a rough year for my family. It all started with the passing of my grandmother at the age of 107. Grandma led a good life, and I am thankful for every moment I spent with her. But her death in the spring was followed by two uncles and the husband of a special cousin. I am hoping that the passing of my Uncle is the last loss for 2023, but only God knows what the future might hold for the family.

Soon after my Uncle's death, a cousin called him a GIANT (the capitals were his). When I first read the words, I admit that I smiled. My Uncle, at least to me as a kid, was a GIANT. My dad was tall, but my Uncle was taller. And I can remember, as a kid, hoping that I would be taller than he was. I made it, but not in the way that I wanted. I was never taller than my Uncle was when I was a child, but fighting Parkinson's disease and stooped by age, the last time I saw my Uncle, I was taller than he was; it was a circumstance that made me sad.

But that wasn't really what my cousin was saying. My Uncle was a GIANT in many ways. He left a fantastic legacy for his family, my Aunt, and cousins, and even for those of us who were a little further out on the limbs of our family tree. He left us a message, not only in what he said, but also with what he did. His influence was vast, and he will be remembered by many people. It is a legacy of which his family can be very proud.

These are the last words of the Hebrew Bible. Malachi didn't realize it, but these would be the last words recorded before a 400-year silence from God. This silence would only be broken by what John called the "Word became flesh." John writes, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

God might be going silent for a while, but that doesn't mean he has nothing to say. Through Malachi, he tells Israel to remember Moses and the decrees and laws God gave him on Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. God has spoken enough for the people. They didn't need more words; they needed the character to follow the instructions already given to them.

We have the same words, as well as the words spoken, after that 400-year silence, by the "Word become Flesh." We don't need more words; we need the character to follow the instructions we already have.

And, once again, in personal mode, my family might have lost some key people in 2023. Their voices may have gone silent, but as a family, we need to follow the GIANT example that Aura, Don, Stuart, and Dave have left for us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 1

Because of you I will rebuke your descendants[; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. – Malachi 2:3

Today's Scripture Reading (November 24, 2023): Malachi 2

As a kid, I remember occasionally driving by the city stockyards of my hometown. Stockyards were traditionally built by railroad tracks and were places for livestock purchase, selling, slaughtering, and transportation. Because of its purpose, it is a place that casts its very own unique aroma over the surrounding area. And to be blunt, even if I wasn't watching where my Dad might be driving, that aroma alerted me to where we were. 

I assume they were on the edge of town when the stockyards were built. Still, by the time I became aware of them, they were part of the downtown industrial complex, sharing the area with a Brewery and a few other warehouses and factories. The city had grown around the stockyards. At some point, there must have been a public outcry against having the smelly stockyards so close to the center of the city, and so the stockyards closed, with those in control of the stockyards choosing to move them about a half hour outside the city limits.

God is speaking to the priests of the Temple, and he is not happy with their behavior. As a result, he makes this statement: I am going to smear on your faces the dung from the animals you have sacrificed at your festivals, and you will be carried off with the carcasses of the animals that you have sacrificed. The intention is that the law specifies that the unburned parts of the sacrificed animal must be carried outside the camp and burned, partially because there is still dung hidden within the animal. God says that because of their sin, he will take that dung and smear it on their faces, where it is not hidden, and then command them to be carried outside of the city. The priests were putting on grand festivals and parties for the people, but like the stockyard of my youth, they couldn't hide the aroma. And God informs the religious elite that he will make the aroma visible.

It is a message that I think the contemporary church needs to hear and take seriously. In the last few years, I have become uncomfortable with some of the common language we use to describe ourselves. Terms like "born-again," "evangelical," and even "Christian" have become political terms rather than spiritual ones. All of which increases my discomfort. I was in a discussion recently with some pastor friends about the "evil evangelicals." My problem is that I would self-describe myself as an "evangelical," but I didn't see a description of my beliefs in my friends' essentially political portrayal of "Evangelical Christianity." I am an evangelical who believes in the power of the Bible and the sacrifice that Jesus made on my behalf. And, by the way, Jesus is the first and the last thing I believe we need to know. He is the Messiah who came to do what we could not: make atonement for us. The problem is that the aroma of our politics threatens to overwhelm the presence of Jesus in his church. That is a problem. And I am afraid that the day is coming when God will smear the dung of our festival sacrifices on our faces and throw us out with the garbage because we forgot to major in Jesus and minor in everything else.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Malachi 3 & 4

"A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. – Malachi 1:6

Today's Scripture Reading (November 23, 2023): Malachi 1

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples many things. One filmmaker has even imagined this sermon in a non-traditional setting, not as a traditional sermon where the teacher addresses those who have gathered to listen to him, but that he taught the sermon's lesson to his followers as he walked among the people, ministering to them. The creative license of the filmmaker is in opposition to what Matthew describes as the setting of the sermon; "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them" (Matthew 5:1-2a). However, the film offers an exciting setting and a reason for the many topics that Jesus's sermon covers.

One of the topics covered was an explanation of prayer. And in the process of describing prayer, Jesus offers an example of prayer. We know of this example as "The Lord's Prayer," but the name isn't really accurate. We really only have one Lord's Prayer, a prayer that Jesus actually prayed, and you can find that prayer in John 17. But the prayer, which forms part of the "Sermon on the Mount," is really "The Disciple's Prayer," it is an example of how we, as his disciples, should pray. The traditional form of this is prayer says,

             Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen (Matthew 6:9b-13).

Most of us have prayed the prayer, but there is a problem that many Christians have experienced with the prayer, and that problem is in the opening words that Jesus taught us to pray: Our Father. Father is a loaded word in Western culture. For some of us, our earthly Fathers have not done well in their paternal roles. I admit that there are many things that I would do differently if I could have a do-over as a Father, changes I am trying to make as I interact with my grandchildren. But this phrase is an obstacle for some who have never experienced a good father. They have never had a good father, and so it becomes hard to imagine God as a Father.

But there is also a responsibility on our part as the ones praying the prayer to understand the words we pray. For those of us who have experienced good fathers, there is a respect that we feel our fathers have earned from us. My father has been a steady influence throughout my life. His steadying hand has benefited me in the various stages of life, and I still value the phone calls and conversations I get to have with him. He has well-earned my honor and respect.

Malachi argues that while we might call God "Father" and "Master," that is not how we treat him. We refuse to give him the respect and honor that we offer to our earthly fathers. So, if we refuse to provide God with the respect we give our earthly fathers, maybe we should not call him Father. If we refuse to obey him, perhaps we should not call him Master because that is not who he really is in our lives.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Malachi 2

And he [Eliashib] had provided him [Tobias] with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. – Nehemiah 13:5

Today's Scripture Reading (November 22, 2023): Nehemiah 13

"A Call to Spy" Is a movie that attempts to tell the story of Noor Inayat Khan, who worked in the communications office in Britain during the Second World War. According to the film, the Allies needed someone to go into occupied France and get information out about what was going on behind enemy lines. In the 1940s, espionage was a man's game basically because of the danger involved. But Britain had no one qualified to send.

Enter the Noor Inayat Khan. She had been working in Special Operations and had proved her worth as a communications officer. She knew how to run the equipment, although her superiors doubted whether she was a good candidate for espionage. Some of her detractors argued that she wasn't smart enough and her personality was too volatile. But Britain's problem was that they didn't have any other options. And so, they began to train Noor to go into France as an espionage agent for Britain.

Khan finished her training, and on June 16, 1943, she was airlifted into France, where she was met by the French Resistance. Khan became the first female wireless operator sent by Britain behind enemy lines. And when she arrived in France, Noor went to work. Circumstances on the ground in France caused Britain to recall Khan a little more than a week later, but Khan wanted to stay. And the British reality was that no one else in France could do the job. So, Khan stayed. She did a spectacular job in France, but starting on June 24, 1943, German officials began to arrest members of the resistance cell for which Khan was working. But while Khan herself evaded capture, all of her contacts slowly disappeared.

Khan was finally betrayed in October 1943. She was arrested and put into custody on October 13. She tried to escape twice and was almost succeeded once, but Khan was rearrested. And in September 1944, Khan was abruptly moved to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was there that she was executed on September 13, 1944. Noor Inayat Khan has been labeled as one of the forgotten heroes of World War II.

The task of a spy is to infiltrate a system and then share secrets with their employer. It was something that Noor Khan did very well. The identities of spies are one of the most guarded secrets of any nation. And discovering who the spies are is one of the priorities of every government. Khan suffered between these two realities; Britain wanted to keep her identity a secret, but someone who had been entrusted with this British information revealed her name to the Germans.

Tobiah was an Ammonite, and as the exiles began to return. Tobiah began working against Israel. He had mocked them; he had threatened them, challenged them. Tobiah had even hired a prophet to prophesy against Nehemiah. But at every step, Nehemiah had opposed them. He kept Tobiah on the outside. And Nehemiah breathed a prayer to his God. ^"Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me" (Nehemiah 6:14).

But finally, Nehemiah had to return to King Artaxerxes and the life he had left behind in the King's court. And then Tobiah went to work. He was complimentary to those in Jerusalem, acting like he was their friend.

And the people, including the High Priest, Eliashib, bought the act. Eliashib admitted Tobiah to the inside of Jewish culture to the extent that the High Priest even rented him a room inside the Temple. The room was a space where the tithe had once been stored. It was an elevated position for a rejected Ammonite who had opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem. But from the inside, Tobiah could damage everything the exiles were trying to accomplish. It took him a while, but he finally achieved his goal. Now, all this Ammonite spy had to do was sabotage the significant efforts of the exiles.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Malachi 1

These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Joshua. – Nehemiah 12:1

Today's Scripture Reading (November 21, 2023): Nehemiah 12

The last King of Germany was Wilhelm II, who abdicated from the German throne on November 9, 1918, as World War I drew to a close. For Wilhelm, hope remained in the German Emperor's mind that he could hold onto at least part of the Empire he had built, but it rapidly became apparent that there was no room for a German King in the emerging contemporary world. The reality in much of Western Culture is that the expectations for Kings and Queens have changed rapidly, and only those Royal families who have been able to find their niche in the emerging culture have survived.

But I like to ask a question: what if the monarchy was re-established in Germany for some reason? Maybe in a dystopian future where the democracies have turned in on themselves and contributed to their own destruction, and it is understood that only a monarchy that can do unpopular things can save the day, who is it that becomes King? Maybe, in a world where the premier democracy seems to be walking toward the brink, it might not be an academic conversation. As a result, is it a Napoleon, the French General who, for a time, took the reigns of control from several Kings in Europe before handing those reigns right back to the dynasties that held them before his rise to power, or is it a descendant of the monarchies who used to rule? For the United States, I believe it would be the former. King Charles, the descendant of the last King to rule over the territory now occupied by the United States, need not apply. Too much water has traveled under that bridge. Right now, the Napoleon that would rise to be the new King of the United States would likely be Donald Trump or even Donald Junior. But for Germany, it might be the rightful heir to the throne, the great-great-grandson of Wilhelm II and the head of the House of Hohenzollern, Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preussen. Von Preussen is also the fourth great-grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and a distant cousin of many European Royals. The House of Hohenzollern will likely never reclaim its former glory, but the new King would be von Preussen if they did.

Nehemiah reminds his readers of who the leaders of the nation were. If there were a King, it would have been Zerubbabel, the grandson of the second last King of Judah. As such, Zerubbabel was the Leader of the House of David. Others likely believed that they should govern the nation because of merit. Still, Zerubbabel, a descendant of David and all of the Kings of Judah was chosen to be the Achaemenid Governor over the province of Yehud (Judah). Unfortunately, after Zerubbabel, we lose sight of who the Leader of David's House might be.

Joshua was the High Priest chosen to lead the nation spiritually. Joshua was the grandson of the last High Priest to lead the nation in Jerusalem before the Babylonian exile. And together, Zerubbabel and Joshua, along with other leaders, would attempt to lead the country back from their time in exile.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 13

The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of them. – Nehemiah 11:21

Today's Scripture Reading (November 20, 2023): Nehemiah 11

When we were starting out, my wife and I would often drive to a nearby hill where the newest houses in the city in which we lived were being built. At the time, we lived in a basement suite in an older part of the city. But on these occasions, we would dream of the day we might emerge from a rented basement and buy one of the lovely houses built on the hill. We never did live on the hill; long before we were financially able to buy a house on the hill, we moved away from the city where the dream had originated. But I still remember the dream of living up on the hill.

The language here is a little strange. Ophel basically means hill or maybe a fortified hill. So essentially, the translation here says that "the Temple servants lived on the hill of Hill." But the passage basically indicates a raised ridge within the city of Jerusalem where the temple servants lived. Incidentally, a similar area in the city of Samaria was also called the Ophel.

Temple servants is also a key phrase in the passage. The temple servants, or temple slaves, indicate the Nethinim, Gentiles, people not born of Israelite descent but bound for service in the Temple. They became the servants of the Levites, the tribe responsible for the care of the Temple. At the time of the writing of Nehemiah, the Nethinim were fully integrated into the life of Israel. As such, they were part of Israel's covenant with God. However, they would undergo a steady decline in reputation after this time to the point where they would occupy one of the lowest rungs of Israelite society and were forbidden to intermarry with any of the descendants of the recognized tribes of Israel.

It was these Nethinim who occupied the hill in Jerusalem. Unlike the hill my wife and I went to look at, dreaming of the day when maybe we would be able to live there, the hill in Jerusalem was occupied by what were essentially foreign slaves. But their distinction is not that they were enslaved, but that they were dedicated for service in the Temple. They would perform the tasks in the Temple that their Levite Masters were either unable or too busy to do. And where the Levites would serve in the Temple on a rotating basis, the Nethinim would be the constant faces, performing the duties that had to be done to keep the Temple running. They were the people of the hill who served daily on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 12

We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons. – Nehemiah 10:30

Today's Scripture Reading (November 19, 2023): Nehemiah 10

When I graduated from High School, I chose to go to a local University located about an hour away from home. However, in the years immediately preceding that decision, there had been a concerted effort to get me to attend a Christian College a thousand kilometers away. Sometimes, the efforts to convince me to attend the Christian College were almost comedic. I remember one night when a musical group from the college showed up at my local church, and I found myself the center of attention from the band members trying to convince me that the Christian College was the place to go. Obviously, someone had tipped them off to the campaign being waged to get me to change my mind and go to the sponsoring college.

But my mind was made up. I felt like some of the fictitious characters in recent television advertisements for Medicare Advantage; "I'm not going." (You can insert the attitude.) And I didn't. At least, not at first. I went to the local University and thought I had put that chapter of my life behind me. But my first year at University didn't go as planned, and so, for my second year, I actually went to that Christian College.

Christian Colleges, and probably a lot of other post-secondary places for education, often get a bit of a reputation for being places where people pair off and marry. Misogynist jokes are told about women only going to these colleges to get their MRS degree, but I made it clear that that was not going to happen to me. I had no intention of going to this college and coming away married. But I did meet a girl there, and no, she was not there to get her MRS degree, but we did begin to date, and eventually, we got married. Apparently, I am not very good at doing what I say I am going to do, but that is another story. The marriage has lasted for the past 42 years and counting.

I think that one thing we miss when we are young is how much that person we choose to go through life with will shape the lives we lead. I know that that is true for me. Back in college, I could not have imagined how vital this girl would be to every aspect of my life. We don't understand how our marriages and children will shape how life is lived and what we do. And I can't imagine how messed up my life would have been without this girl and her guidance from a college I had never planned on attending. But sometimes, it is something that we don't see until much later.

In Nehemiah's day, it was the parent's job to choose their child's spouse. With the importance that marriage holds over the rest of our lives, maybe that is not such a bad practice. And so, the parents promised Nehemiah that they would not choose spouses for their children from outside the Jewish community. The fear was that these spouses would lead their children away from God, and Judah would disappear the same way that Israel had disappeared generations earlier.

Marriage is more important than we sometimes realize. Choosing the right person will either set us up or destroy us. Nehemiah hoped that choosing from within the community would at least begin the process of helping the marriages of these children to set them up to be the spiritual and intellectual giants that the nation would need as they proceeded to re-establish the country.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 11

They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God. – Nehemiah 9:3

Today's Scripture Reading (November 18, 2023): Nehemiah 9

What would you stand for? And how long would you stand to get it? Would you spend a few hours standing in line to get Taylor Swift tickets? What about tickets to the 2024 Super Bowl? Or maybe I should ask how long you would stand in line to hear the Gaither Vocal Band, or maybe Phillips, Craig, and Dean?

Years ago, I commented on the difference between going to a Bill Gaither and Friends concert, which often features a crowd of people sitting and listening to the various people on the stage, many of whom are also sitting, sing the songs that made them famous, versus going to a Petra concert, in which both the performers and the concert-goers are often not just standing but moving to the music and even singing along with the songs that they know. At one concert, for the most part, we are willing to let the professionals sing and listen to them as they practice their craft, while at the other, participation is at a premium. A few times, I was asked to lead worship while I was attending seminary. And once, I included a song that a contemporary Christian band had written. One professor commented that he would have never considered including such a song in worship. But for me, it was an excellent congregational song.

The people gathered, and they recognized their sin. They put on the signs of mourning. They fasted, wore rough, uncomfortable clothing, and placed dust on their heads. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law for a quarter of the day. I think most of us would stop going to church if the pastor took away the chairs and made the congregation stand for the hour of the service, let alone stand for a quarter of a day just to listen to someone read and explain the Bible. Yet, that is precisely what Nehemiah asserts happened. And then they spent another quarter of a day confessing their sins and worshipping. It was a church service unlike any that we have probably experienced. 

The people read and confessed. And God moved in their midst. The people needed a movement from God. And so do we. A while ago, I challenged my congregation to meditate at the end of a worship service. And no, I didn't make them stand, nor did we spend a quarter of a day, but we sacrificed a few minutes to meditate and confess together. On this day, we wrote our confession on paper, prayed, and then shredded the paper because I believe these confessions were between the worshipper and God and are nobody else's business. Following our confessions, we took communion together. We must understand that while our confession is necessary, so is the reminder that God intends to take our sins away. Zechariah comments: "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you" (Zechariah 3:4). The second part of confession is always to receive God's sacrifice and his forgiveness for us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 10

The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. – Nehemiah 8:7

Today's Scripture Reading (November 17, 2023): Nehemiah 8

My wife and I attended a worship service at a local Jewish synagogue a few years ago. We parked our car and walked into the building. An usher guided me to where the Kippahs or Yarmulkes were kept, so that I could appropriately cover my head before entering the sanctuary of the synagogue. I had phoned the Rabbi to let him know I was coming, and he greeted us at the door to the sanctuary. We had come for the whole service, which is about three hours long and includes several readings and traditional elements. Not all worshippers apparently attended the service for the full meal deal, so the sanctuary gradually got fuller as the morning went on.

We were brought into the sanctuary, and we were told that all the pews had names on them. That meant that certain families had purchased these pews, and this was where they would sit when they came for worship. If the particular family in whose pew we chose to sit that morning showed up, we might have to move. All of this was said in a rather matter-of-fact manner, but all I could think of was how horrified I would have been if someone ever did that to a visitor at the church that I lead on a Sunday morning. Admittedly, I have told the greeters that if someone sits in one of the member's seats, don't move them; put out extra seats rather than cause a scene.

And then the Worship service began. Readings were done from the hymnal, usually in Hebrew. It was an excellent chance to puzzle my way through the little Hebrew I knew. Like when I had attended a Catholic or Orthodox Christian service, we tried to stand when others stood and sit when others sat. And I found it all very interesting, but it was not worship because I understood little of what was happening. The one break was the teaching time, which was done in English so that we did understand. But not most of the rest of the service.

According to Nehemiah, the Levites had to take care to instruct the people in the Law. The reality is that the people who returned to Jerusalem were not the same people who left. That is both literally and figuratively true. The people who returned were the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the ones who left. And that was important. The people who returned had grown up in places like Babylon and Persia. They spoke different languages and came from a world where diverse gods and different ways of thinking dominated.

So, as the Mosaic Law was read, it had to be explained. A "Plain reading of the text" was not available or not understandable. We know that the same is true for us. Anyone who demands that we have a plain reading of the text is asking for something that is simply unavailable. We are separated from a plain reading of the text by language (Hebrew to English), time (around 2000 years or more), and place (the Middle East vs wherever you might live). And so, the Levites took the text and began to build a bridge between the text and the time and place of the text so that they could understand what had been written. It is still the task of biblical teachers to build a bridge between the biblical writers and the contemporary listener.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 9

After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. – Nehemiah 7:1

Today's Scripture Reading (November 16, 2023): Nehemiah 7

There might not be a better feeling than knowing that you have finished a project and can now move on to something else, especially if the completed process enables another project to start. My maternal grandparents, at least for part of their lives, built houses. But they weren't a large corporation like are involved in the process today. It was a different time, and maybe a simpler one. Grandpa and Grandma would purchase several lots in the same area, and then they would begin the process of building a home. Once one house was built, they would move in, living in the house while working on the other homes they planned to build. They would finish one home and then sell it, investing the money in the other homes yet to be constructed. Once all the houses had been built on the remaining lots, they would move on to one of several other lots purchased in another area. I am sure there had to be a bit of celebration every time a home was finished and sold.

Several years ago, my father and I returned to one of the areas where we knew Grandpa and Grandma had built homes. And, while the area was very different from what I remembered as a kid, we think we found at least some houses they had created. For us, the key was that the architecture and brickwork matched the types of homes that Grandpa liked to build.

Nehemiah has finished the walls and has had the doors and gates set in place. He would set watches at the wall and opening hours for the gates, but the finished walls and gates gave the city some security. So maybe now, the city could begin their worshipping lives. And the worshipping lives would start by saying thanks to God for the walls and the gates. There was much to be done, but the walls had been a priority, and praise could be offered because this stage of the project had been completed.

Pastor David Guzik offers this observation.

The singers and the Levites were there to lead the people in worship; the walls were not rebuilt so the people of Jerusalem could look at nice walls. They were rebuilt so they could worship God with greater glory and freedom than ever before.

The victory carried the people of Jerusalem into praise. There would be other reasons for worshipping God that would lie ahead. But Nehemiah wanted to make sure that the people gained an expectation of praising God for all that was yet to be completed in the city and the nation.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 8